Abstract

This paper focuses on weather and climate as factors affecting certain facets of human activity during the Byzantine period. Various aspects of impact that weather phenomena and climatic conditions could have upon travel, travellers and communications by land, either in short-term or in long-term context, during the Byzantine period are discussed: Were there any long-term impacts of climatic change upon communications overland? Which weather phenomena are described by the Byzantine authors as affecting people on move? What was the impact of weather upon land transport and communications? Which was the concept of weather that people on the move had and how can we combine weather reports with traveller's emotional and factual reality while experiencing meteorologically induced dangers during overland travel?